William h



(Ho Model.)

W. H. SHERER.

DOOR SPRING.

Patented Mar 20,1883.

In. PETERS. Phalvuthognpher. mn'wgm. DJ:-

' UNITED' STATES PATENT WILLIAM H. SHERER, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK.

DOOR-SPRING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,397, dated March20, 1883.

To all whom it may concern Beit known that I, WILLIAM H. SHERER, ofBinghnmton, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have inventeda new and useful Improvement in Door-Springs; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention is an improved door-spring of that class in which a coiledspring is held within a drum and connects it with the pintle of abracket, the drum being connected to the door, whereby when the door isopened the spring is coiled.

The improvements in which my invention consist relate to details ofconstruction, all as hereinafter iully set forth, the object of theseimprovements being to simplify and cheapen the construction, and torender it more efficient in use.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a perspective view ofthe spring and its bracket and conuectionsin place upon a door. Fig. 2is a detail of the bracket. Fig. 3 represents a horizontal section ofthe drum. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the apparatus in place. Fig. '5 showsa modification of the drum and spring.

In these figures, A represents the bracket in which the drum is mounted.Ithasaplate, a, fitted to be screwed to the door with a shank risingabove the edge of said door, from which point it is bent in a horizontaldirection, and terminates in a boss and pintle, c. On this the drum Bturns freely, beinglimited only by the spring d. This spring is fastenedat one end to the pintle and at the other to the inner wall of the drum.On the jamb oi the door opposite the drum, when the latter is in placeand the door closed, I fix a plate, D,

provided with two ears,'e andf. In the care is a pin projecting upward,and to this is attached a strap which is wound upon the drum andfastened to the outer surface of the wall thereof. The ear f isperforated and receives the downwardlybent end of aspring-rod which liesin part against the plate D, but the end is bent forward to meet a pin,h, on the hori' zontal axis of the bracketA as the door swings to close.The size of the spring, which may be made of steel or brass Wire,depends on the size of the door, and the end is bent forward enough toreceive the pin it before the door (No model.)

closes, thus preventing any violent slamming. It will be observed thatthe strap winds on the outside of a cylindrical drum. This, with theconstantly-increasing thickness of the coiled strap, gives greaterleverage when the strap is wound upon the drum, and constantly decreas.

.ing leverage as the strap is unwound. Thus when the door is closed lessforce is required to start it, and the force required to overcome theinertiaof the door and return it is greatest at the start when it is tobe automatically returned. Instead of this plate, an ordinary attachmentmay be used. The drum may be made of malleable iron or in any convenientway, and is provided with a cover, I, to keep out the dust from thespring. Instead of a hollow drum inclosing a spring, I may use a soliddrum, as shown in Fig. 5, in which the spring is mounted on the top ofthe drum, and is fixed to pintle and drum by connections at the ends, asheretofore described. All the me tallic parts except the springs may bemade of malleable or cast iron, and, if desired, the strap also may bemade of metal, although a leather strap might ordinarily be found moreconvenient.

It will be apparent from the construction of the device that it may belocated at any point on the door and jamb at a distance from the hingedside proportioned to the width of the door. For wider doors I place itfarther from the hinged side, thus increasing the force of the action ofthe spring. Thus the same size of spring may be made to exert moreforce, apd the same size of device is adapted to different widths ofdoors.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- Incom'bination withthe bracket A, drum B, provided with a spring and adapted to be mountedon a door, a plate, D, having ears 6 f, and spring-rod acting inconnection with pin it on the bracket and a connecting-strap,

WILLIAM H. snnann.

Witnesses:

FRANK MIDDLETON, WALTER DONALDSON.

